Betta Behaviour

[jamespond]

hi,

I've got a Biube which holds 35 litres...in my tank i have some volcanic rock...3 moss balls and a small pirate ship. I also have 4 neons, 1 molly, 2 rummys and 2 danios.

Now, my betta gets along with everyone fine...but he spends most of his time at the bottom of the tank (sometimes with his nose right in the bottom as if he's looking for something) or squeezing his way around the moss or volcanic rock. I've check my water (Ammonia is 0 as is nitirte) and i've also checked him...no white spots or anything unusual either.

at night he does swim around a bit more...but just wondered if this behaviour is normal?!

 

[jamespond]

anyone?!?!

 

[fiki]

how long have you had him

if you've had him for a while - is this new behavior for him? or has he alwasy been like that

 

[jamespond]

how long have you had him

if you've had him for a while - is this new behavior for him? or has he alwasy been like that

i've had him a month...and yeah, he's always kinda acted like this.

 

[Wisperian]

First of all, I can't believe you told a person you kept a male and female in a tank together with success. If they actually listen to you, fighting is so going to happen. Anyways, its obvious your tetras are bothering your betta when you're not looking. Having that many tetras in a 35L/10g puts the betta in a lot of stress. I suggest you take him out and put him into something like a 3g.

 

[jamespond]

First of all, I can't believe you told a person you kept a male and female in a tank together with success. If they actually listen to you, fighting is so going to happen. Anyways, its obvious your tetras are bothering your betta when you're not looking. Having that many tetras in a 35L/10g puts the betta in a lot of stress. I suggest you take him out and put him into something like a 3g.

first of all...i said I had kept male and female together in a large tank...which i have done...and i'm not the only person to have said so...someone else has posted after me saying they had kept them together in a 15 litre tank!

The tetras don't bother my betta...one of the Danios attempted to nip his tail once...but he soon got the message that was a bad idea (the betta chased him) and noone bothers him. He just mills around the bottom of the tank seemingly 'exploring'.

 

[Wisperian]

First of all, I can't believe you told a person you kept a male and female in a tank together with success. If they actually listen to you, fighting is so going to happen. Anyways, its obvious your tetras are bothering your betta when you're not looking. Having that many tetras in a 35L/10g puts the betta in a lot of stress. I suggest you take him out and put him into something like a 3g.

first of all...i said I had kept male and female together in a large tank...which it is...and i'm not the only person to have said so...someone else has posted after me saying they had kept them together in a 15 litre tank!

The tetras don't bother my betta...one of the Danios attempted to nip his tail once...but he soon got the message that was a bad idea (the betta chased him) and noone bothers him. He just mills around the bottom of the tank seemingly 'exploring'.

You're not watching your fish 24/7. You wouldn't even know if they were attacking each other. Your betta is probably hiding from them. & It doesn't matter if its in a "large" tank unless its like 1000gallons which limits the chances of the 2 of them seeing each other down to like 10 in a million. Just because people say they've kept them together just shows they're not smart. This is just another example of one of those if I jump off a bridge, would you things.

 

[jamespond]

what?! So let me get this right....the fact i once kept a male and female Betta toegther (for 2 years) shows i'm not smart? For your information, they came with the tank (i bought it 2nd hand) and lived fine...infact, when the female died (of old age) i replaced her with ANOTHER female...and again they lived fine.

I wouldn't know if they were attacking my fish?? My tank is in my living room and i get to watch them quite a lot...and to be honest, i've never heard of Neons attacking bettas....again, (when i had 2 betta's in my old tank) i had 10 neons and they all lived happily together

 

[stang1]

I kept Neons with a Betta and they nipped at him so I had to remove him. I also have another Betta who was kept with Danios at the lfs and they ripped his fins up quite badly. Luckily after treating him he is fine now. Your fish may seem fine now but there is a good chance that you will end up having to keep the Betta on his own.

 

[Wisperian]

Because they lived together doesn't mean they weren't living in stress . For your information, the fact that you kept 10 neons in with bettas takes away any chances of belief I would have if you told me you actually know tons about your fish considering you've never heard of neons nipping bettas. For all we know you could just be making this up but whatever, they're your fish and not our fault if they get harrassed. The most we could do is tell you you're wrong and feel sorry for your fish.

 

[jamespond]

Because they lived together doesn't mean they weren't living in stress . For your information, the fact that you kept 10 neons in with bettas takes away any chances of belief I would have if you told me you actually know tons about your fish considering you've never heard of neons nipping bettas. For all we know you could just be making this up but whatever, they're your fish and not our fault if they get harrassed. The most we could do is tell you you're wrong and feel sorry for your fish.

look fella...i was keeping fish when you were still needing your mother carry you to the bathroom. A number of years ago, i had a very large tropical fish set up...150+ litre and in that i had a lot of fish, which included 2 bettas and around 10-12 neons. I sold the lot after 3 years to go to university..and have now got back into fishkeeping.

I don't claim to know a great deal about fish keeping, but i will go with past expereince and what i don't know i research up on and ask about. I consulted thinkfish.co.uk and i also asked at my LFS...nowhere have i heard of Bettas being attacked by neons and i am not going to let you invent situations in my tank that arn't there....my betta hasn't had his fins damaged and the other fish leave him well alone. I know what fish bing harrassed looks like, and the molly is the only one who gets that....ironically from the betta.

 

[stang1]

I appreciate you not believing it about the neons as you haven't witnessed it but I can assure you I did have this happen to my Betta when he was kept in a 42G tank.
It is down to you what you choose to keep him with but you've asked a question and Wisperian has been trying to give you advice.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a lot of what thinkfish had to say and you can't always trust your lfs. I've had bad advice from them in the past.
People are giving you advice from their own experience but whether you choose to take notice is entirely up to you.

 

[fiki]

When neons are in schools they tend to nip at their tails - MAYBE in your case the neons aren't. Regardless of whether the neons are nipping or not - sitting at the bottom like that is a sign of stress IMO. Try moving him to a bowl and see if he exhibits different behavior. If you have the time watch your fish and see how they act. Who knows? I've had a really small platy harass a beta continuously and they betta would hide from it :>

Maybe your beta is a bum - i have a gorgeous ct who is the biggest bum and sits on the bottom of the tank in all conditions.

good luck and keep us posted

 

[jamespond]

I appreciate you not believing it about the neons as you haven't witnessed it but I can assure you I did have this happen to my Betta when he was kept in a 42G tank.
It is down to you what you choose to keep him with but you've asked a question and Wisperian has been trying to give you advice.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a lot of what thinkfish had to say and you can't always trust your lfs. I've had bad advice from them in the past.
People are giving you advice from their own experience but whether you choose to take notice is entirely up to you.

I don't mind people giving advice...but i do mind when someone insinuates that i don't care about my fish. I keep a careful eye on all my fish and if there was a problem i would deal with it...the closest thing i've got to anyone being harrased if my molly...but he stays out of the way of my betta.

Wisperian is making assumptions and being extreamly negative.

When neons are in schools they tend to nip at their tails - MAYBE in your case the neons aren't. Regardless of whether the neons are nipping or not - sitting at the bottom like that is a sign of stress IMO. Try moving him to a bowl and see if he exhibits different behavior. If you have the time watch your fish and see how they act. Who knows? I've had a really small platy harass a beta continuously and they betta would hide from it :>

Maybe your beta is a bum - i have a gorgeous ct who is the biggest bum and sits on the bottom of the tank in all conditions.

good luck and keep us posted

this is what i've been thinking...he's not hiding (at least not very well!) but he kinda sticks his head into places...its like he's lost something. Maybe he's curious about the under gravel filtration or something?!

 

[InaneCathode]

It's totally normal mate. Mine does the same thing, and my girlfriends did the same thing as well.
They're pretty intelligent fish, and they *do* like to explore.
They also seem to like squeezing into things and getting half stuck in plants (they like the feel of leaves through their fins i suppose)
Regardless of what you keep him with, if theres neons, or platies, or other bettas, or plutonium rods, what your betta is doing i've seen and heard of happening regularly.
I trust you watch your fish, and you would probably notice if any other fish are bothering him.